Mack ally Charles Hall pleads guilty to conspiracy

TRENTON — Former city recreation employee Charles Hall III pleaded guilty in an illegal scheme to accept bribes in exchange for official influence and implicated Mayor Tony Mack, Joseph “Jo-Jo,” Giorgianni and Ralphiel Mack as co-conspirators on Wednesday.

Hall appeared in front of Judge Michael Shipp in Federal Court, dressed in a subdued dark grey pinstriped suit. The defendant, who visibly appeared to have difficulty standing and walking, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone, as per the plea agreement struck up in December.

The disgraced city official allegedly co-conspired with the mayor, Giorgianni and Ralphiel Mack, to assist a cooperating witness (CW-2) in buying and developing a city-owned lot on East State State into a parking garage for a substantially less amount than the property is worth.

The federally run sting operation tapped phone lines and flipped Hall into a cooperating witness for the government, encouraging him to wear a wire and record all illegal actions surrounding the development.

During the factual basis of the guilty plea, Hall admitted to being a “buffer” between Mayor Mack and CW2, accepting bribes for the city official and using code words to elude authorities, whom they suspected may have been listening in on phone conversations.

“Did you, Giorgianni and Tony Mack agree that Tony Mack would take official action to fix the price of East State Street lot at $100,000 in exchange for a $100,000 payment to you, Giorgianni and Tony Mack?” asked Assistant United States Attorney Eric Moran.

“Yes,” answered Hall.Moran continued his questioning, “When talking over the telephone, did you, Tony Mack, Giorgianni and Ralphiel Mack use code words to hide the illegal nature of the scheme in case law enforcement was listening in?”

“Yes,” said Hall.EM: “For example, on April 30, 2012, did Ralphiel Mack call you and ask you how late JoJo’s Steakhouse was open?” asked Moran.

CH: “Yes.”EM: “Did you understand Ralphiel Mack to be arranging to pick up a cash payment that Giorgianni recently had received for Tony Mack’s benefit?”

CH: “Yes.EM: “During a call the next day, did you ask Ralphiel Mack whether he made it ‘by to get something to eat,’ and whether he ‘stopped by and got a cheesesteak yet’ and in doing so, were you using code words to ask Ralphiel Mack if he picked up the cash payment from Giorgianni at JoJo’s Steakhouse?”

CH: “Yes.”EM: “Did Ralphiel Mack respond by saying ‘Yeah, yeah I got a steak’ and did you understand Ralphiel Mack to be using code to tell you that he had picked up the cash payment from Giorgianni, who trained at JoJo’s Steakhouse?”

CH: “Yes.”Questioning by the U.S. attorney continued to reveal the amount and number of times Hall and Ralphiel Mack obtained illegal funds in connection with the parking garage project including a $10,000 cash payment Hall picked up at Giorgianni’s residence in Ewing, in June 2012.

Hall’s role as a go-between kept him in constant contact with Giorgianni, who took particular care to ensure the mayor was protected. During the meeting in June, Giorgianni advised Hall to keep his mouth shut and to never allow a public official to personally pick up bribe money.

Moran asked “Did Giorgianni tell you that ‘As long as you got buffers, you’re safe,’ and that Tony Mack ‘knows they ain’t never gonna break me,’ and ‘he knows I’m not giving nobody up,” and “jail, that’s my business so, Tony’s safe.”

Hall agreed.“Did you understand that to mean that Giorgianni acted as Tony Mack’s ‘buffer’ or intermediary for the acceptance of bribes to protect Tony Mack, from detection from law enforcement and possibly jail?” asked Moran.

Hall again said yes.“Did Giorgianni also tell you ‘I even keep Tony safe where I’ll give money to Ralphiel?’

Hall agreed again.“Isn’t that what he was going to testify to anyway, this was what he was going to say from day one and we always knew that?” commented Mayor Mack’s attorney Mark Davis. “He was an uncharged co-conspirator and now is a witness for government, his testimony doesn’t mean anything and it doesn’t change our course of action right now... If anything I think this is a blow to the government because now they have a convicted felon to testy on their behalf,” Davis continued.

The U.S. Attorney also detailed additional alleged corruption, accusing the Mayor and Giorgianno of accepting a bribe in the amount of $1,300 for steering a power-wash contract to a specific individual, and another $2,000 payment to ensure a contract for dirt removal services with the City of Trenton that was awarded to another individual. Hall admitted to accepting a $1,600 bribe for his participation in the scheme.

Hall also plead guilty to one charge of intent to distribute oxycodone he receive from an unidentified doctor in Nutley New Jersey, who he was introduced to by Giorgianni. According to the court proceedings, between September 2, 2011 and June 12, 2012, Hall filled approximately 13 prescriptions from the Nutley, New Jersey doctor, for a total of approximately 1,560 oxycodone-based pills. Using Giorgianno’s Jo-Jo’s Steakhouse and alleged co-conspirators, Anthony Diamatteo, Giuseppe Scordato and others, the pills were sold locally.

Again, to avoid legal intervention, the distributors used code words, referring to the highly addictive painkillers as “steaks, cigars or eagles.”

Hall was released on a $100,000 bail, he had to surrender his passport restricting his travel only to the state of NJ and must have no contact with co-defendants or witness in upcoming trials. He will be officially sentenced on June 5, 2013.